History
Brown’s Piece has a rich and diverse past and has been used by our community for many years.
Over the years the land has overlooked a mill and public lido.
There are many stories of how people brought up in Wotton played on the land as children.
It is recorded that in the 1770s a Whitsun attraction for was “prize-fighting in a ring, by Hack Mill, with the sheep-walks between it and Brown’s Piece a natural grandstand.
It attracted patrons and pugilists from various parts of the county, and that stakes ruled high, apart from the wagers”. (“Wotton Under Edge – Men and Affairs of a Cotswold Wool Town”, E S Lindley 1
1909 saw the forming of Wotton Swimming Club at Coombe Lakes. It later moved to Hack Mill Lido until 1939 when the Lido closed.
Brown’s Piece has remained an identifiable piece of land since at least the 1760s. It is clearly identifiable in this map from 1763.
The 1847 Tythe Map names the land we are trying to purchase as Brown’s Piece and Cox’s Leaze although now known to locals as Hack Hill
